Verbal Backspace
Comedy trope: Alice says something. Then Bob says something or something happens that makes it clear that what she just said doesn't make sense. Alice quickly revises her statement and repeats it. On Second Thought is a more specific case of this, as are some forms of Inflationary Dialogue.
Alternatively, Alice attempts an compliment or insult. However, Bob responds with information contradicting what they thought, which could include Compliment Backfire or Insult Backfire. So, Alice tries again with a new insult or compliment, directly opposed to what they had just said. Could be compounded by a Hair-Trigger Temper.
Students of rhetoric may describe this as "epanorthosis". If Alice has to retract a practical idea that uses bad methods, it's a case of And That Would Be Wrong. If she has to retract a controversial opinion, it's a case of Not That There's Anything Wrong with That. If she's retracting an insult to someone she hadn't meant to insult, it's because of Insult Friendly Fire.
Related to, but not to be confused with Verbal Backpedaling, which is when a person thinks out loud, only to offer an impromptu explanation on the spot when overheard. Villains are prone to use that trope.
Anime and Manga
- In Morita-san wa Mukuchi, Mayu's trying to thank Ritsuki for fetching a book for her earlier when:
Ritsuki: I find it very sexy when you stare at me like that. |
Fan Works
- In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, after Kyon receives a longcoat as a gift from Mikuru.
Kyon: I won't be able to get much use out of this until next winter, but I know once I do, I will greatly appreciate this! Asahina-san, I don't know what I've done to deserve such a fine present, but I am very grateful. |
- and then there is also one in Time Braid after Sakura decimates Pein
Sakura: Hell, yeah! 'Not a front-line combatant' my ass, Sasuke! I am the champion of ass-kicking, you arrogant nutjob. |
- An absolutely hilarious one occurs in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Quirrell suggests to Dumbledore that Harry take Occlumency lessons, with the as-of-yet undetermined teacher to have his memory wiped after every training session and an unbreakable vow to not reveal anything.
Video Games
- Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars: During a random encounter, Huang meets a real estate agent who previously asked Huang to drive him around.
Huang: You still don't have a car? |
- Muv-Luv: When Takeru calls Sumika a slug, combined with Insult to Rocks:
Sumika: Gaaaaah!!! Apologize to slugs! |
Films
Daniel: Sounds like a good bloke. |
Principal: I will keep you all night if I have to. |
- On the DVD Commentary the creators note that he has a pattern of trying to sound authoritative and then immediately backing off from whatever he said.
- History of the World, Part I:
Moses: The Lord Jehovah has given unto you these fifteen... |
- Back to The Future Part III:
- The Naked Gun 33 1/3 (1994)
Rocko Dillon: [firing gun over audience's heads] Freeze, and nobody gets hurt! |
- From Fierce Creatures, Rollo loses it and gives his zoo's employees a scathing critique of their new corporate owner:
Inigo: Give us the gate key. |
Wonka: So much time and so little to do-- Wait. Strike that. Reverse it. |
- From Underworld Evolution
- In Hot Fuzz, Danny and Nick are discussing Nicolas' role model.
Nicholas: It all started with my Uncle Derek. He was a Sergeant in the Met. He bought me a police pedal car when I was five. I rode around in it every second I was awake - arresting kids twice my size for littering and spitting. I got beaten up a lot when I was young, but it didn't stop me. I wanted to be like Uncle Derek. |
- In Megamind, after Roxanne's report:
- In The Road to El Dorado when they first set off to find the treasure.
Miguel: (dramatically cutting away foliage) The trail that we blaze! (the foliage falls, revealing solid stone behind it) (points to the side) That trail that we blaze! |
Bruce Banner: I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him. |
Live Action TV
- In "The Stinson Missile Crisis" episode of How I Met Your Mother, Barney invokes this several times during his various Bimbo Delivery Systems, two commercials and an autodialer.
- A favored technique on 30 Rock:
Kenneth: I will buy Mr Donaghy a new pair of pants! |
Melody: Can you control yourself? |
Louis: Am I in heaven? |
Sylar: I'm not a serial killer. |
Kitty: Red, you can run the raffle. |
Bartlet: I could fund this initiative out of my pocket! |
Picard: I look forward to your report, Mr. Broccoli. |
- The IT Crowd had Douglas do one of these when he talked about deleting incriminating files and then quickly added that he only meant to say "files".
- A Running Gag in Get Smart, with Maxwell Smart's claims simultaneously growing less dramatic and more ridiculous, along the lines of:
- Blackadder the Third: Blackadder accidentally lets slip how he really sees the relationship between himself and the prince:
Blackadder: It's good to be back in the saddle. Did I say saddle? I meant harness. |
Don: But who's gonna do it? |
- From Firefly episode Heart Of Gold, when the others were trying to convince Jayne to help with a job that was "strictly speculative":
Jayne: Don't know these folks, don't much care to. |
- After Starbug crashes in the Red Dwarf episode "Emohawk: Polymorph II":
Kryten: At least Mr Lister's guitar survived intact. |
- Merlin and Arthur are trying to decide what to do with the sleeping Uther to protect him, and Merlin thinks they should disguise him, leading to:
Arthur: That might just work. |
Jeremy Clarkson: Still, I'd only lost one thing... |
- Played for drama in Person of Interest:
Nathan: Eight people in the world know {{[[[Big Brother Is Watching]] the Machine}}] exists. We need to keep it that way. |
Puppet Shows
- Muppets in Space:
- Muppets Tonight!, John Goodman is fighting in a war with a bunch of rats:
Web Comics
- Also, in a different strip:
- In Tweep, regarding embarrassing yearbook pictures:
Jack: Now, before you do anything, just remember...we've got witnesses. I mean, "company." |
- An unusually cheerful example appears in 'Schlock Mercenary, toward the end of Book Ten:
TAG: Success. |
- Another one here:
Ebbirnoth: And Lieutenant Pibald here is a genius. |
- And again when Tip's reaction to her saying "This is a job for Tip" means it becomes "This is a job for Tip, supervised by me."
Web Original
Nerd: Don't kill me! |
Kathleen (offering Major Nelson a job at Checkpoint): "We can't technically pay you money, but we do have free soda!" |
- The Nostalgia Chick's 'Labyrinth review:
"I think everyone remembers their first boner...Bowie." |
- The Zero Punctuation review of Bayonetta makes a Running Gag of Freudian slips due to the game's Up to Eleven sexualisation:
"Get past the the cock-tease presentation and the game is adequate at breast. Best." |
- I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC: Spider-Man lamenting Marvel losing the licensing to Transformers some twenty years ago:
Spider-Man: This is the worst decision Marvel has ever ma-- |
- Todd in the Shadows mishears the lyrics to "I've Got Nerve" by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus as "I've Got Nerf".
"Heh, Nerf should use this in their commercials. Nerf should not use this in their commercials, I immediately take that back." |
- Happens again in his Top 10 Best Pop Songs of 2011.
"Ah, Usher. The women want him and the men want him. Want to be him. I meant want to be him." |
- The Joker has one in episode 8 of The Joker Blogs.
"One or the other. It's the fork in the throat--road, fork in the road. Henry's the one with the, ah, fork in the throat." |
- In Dragon Ball Abridged, Episode 10:
Vegeta: "You...you cut through my armor! This was a gift from my father!" |
Western Animation
Gloria Allred: We owe it all to me! And these six brave little boys. |
- Done again in "Tonsil Trouble":
M.C.: With nothing but each other, and overcoming all odds, these two brave friends... |
- Perhaps the greatest example of all comes from The Simpsons with Moe hooked up to a lie detector:
- They did it again in the episode parodying The Departed. After getting a mole into Bart's group, Chalmers gloats that they're going to put Bart away for a long time. Skinner points out that, legally, the most they can give him is a ten-day suspension. "Well, that's long to a kid!"
- Metalocalypse
Skwisgaar: Well, there are two things to do in a blackout. Get drunk. One thing to do. |
Phineas: ...we're going to laser our faces into the comet! Then, when it comes back in seventy-three and a half years, we can all show our grandchildren! Oh, yeah - my parents are cooking steaks for everyone. |
- An instance in Teen Titans serves as a Call Back and Continuity Nod.
Dr. Light: No one can defeat Doctor Light! No one! *turns to see Raven* |
- In Family Guy, Lois asks Quagmire for help.
Quagmire: Sure, Lois. I would do everything to you. |
Le Fou: That crazy old loon! He needs all the help he can get! |
Billy: Mandy's gonna take your pants off! |
Real Life
- Online, there are two additional methods to invoke this:
striking out the textwriting the text in a strikethrough font, and writing one thing and then "backspacing" over it with control-H, written ^H. (Each control-H deletes one letter^H^H^H^H^H^H^H character.) This is a reference to 1980s-era Unix systems, where misconfigured terminals would display control codes instead of invoking them. (A more obscure option is control-W, which deletes entire words ^W^W^W deleted one word in the Berkeley UNIX and in the vi text editor, and was therefore used for more succinct Verbal Backspaces.) - Lojban has actual words for this: The words "si", "sa" and "su", to be specific.